Punishment
by Jasey Rae1
Summary: Chapter 3 updated 8/13; Taub and Kutner come to blows so to speak. Kutner/Taub, a very rare pairing.
1. Navigate Me

Chris Taub stomped into the cafeteria and sneered at everyone that found themselves in his line of sight. He made his way through the line but found himself too angry to want to eat and bought only a bottle of water, throwing his money at the cashier irritably. She glared at him, but he ignored her, finding an empty table in the corner to slam his water onto before pulling the chair out with much more force than necessary, then sitting down and putting his head down on the table.

He sat there, his head pounding from anger for a few moments until he heard a chair scraping the floor nearby. _No, no, no, _Taub thought, hoping and praying that it was just a table near his and not the single chair across from his. He was disappointed to hear a lunch tray snap against the table obnoxiously close to his head.

"Hey, Taub, what's wrong with you?"

Taub glanced up warily, frowning upon seeing the peppiest of his colleagues sitting down across from him.

"None of your business, Kutner," He replied, sitting up and taking a sip from his water.

"Okay," Kutner mumbled, opening a bag of chips, "Whatever, just thought I'd ask."

Taub didn't answer, just took another long sip of his water and glared at Kutner, hoping he'd realize that he wanted to be alone.

"You're not eating anything?" Kutner asked, not seeming to notice that his coworker was attempting to burn holes in him with his eyes.

"I'm in a bad mood,"

"So you're going to starve yourself?" Kutner asked, raising a brow, "Want a chip?"

He offered the bag to Taub, and despite the fact that he was too angry to eat, his stomach growled and he grudgingly took one of the chips.

"I've never been mad enough not to eat,"

"Well, you've never been kicked out of your own house either," Taub snapped, then groaned as he realized what he had just told him.

"Oh, so that's what happened? Fight with you wife?"

"Yes," Taub answered with his teeth clenched.

"That sucks, man. If you need to, you can crash with me until you work everything out." Kutner offered, taking a bite of his salad.

Taub inwardly cringed at the thought of spending any more time than necessary with the sci-fi obsessed Kutner, but realized that he didn't have anywhere else to stay. Sure, he could stay at a hotel, but to get back into his wife's good graces, there would probably be lots expensive gifts in his future… And his salary as one of House's fellows wasn't nearly as munificent as the one he pulled in as a plastic surgeon…

"Maybe," Taub said tightly, "But I'd prefer to negotiate my way back home."

"Cool, just let me know, then?"

"Yeah, I'll do that." Taub replied, getting up.

He walked quickly out of the cafeteria, dialing his wife's number on his cell phone, and then cursing when it went straight to voicemail.

"Please call me back, baby. I'm sorry, just please let me come back home?"

He slammed his phone shut and dialed again; he was _not_ going to spend the night in the bat cave.

* * *

"Damn it!" Taub exclaimed and replayed the message that his wife left him.

"Stop calling me, Chris, I'm turning off my phone. I really don't feel like talking to you right now and besides, I'm sure you can find someone to share a bed with tonight; you've never had a problem with it before."

He growled and slammed his phone into the nearest wall, letting all the pieces fall to the floor. He ran his hands angrily through his short hair and kicked the biggest piece of his phone he could see down the hallway.

"I guess things didn't go so well?"

Taub turned to face Kutner, who was bending down to pick up a part of his phone.

"Shut up, I don't want to hear it."

"Okay, okay, chill out." Kutner handed him what looked like a circuit board from his phone, "You might want to keep this, it's got your SIM card in it."

"Yeah, thanks," Taub mumbled, dropping the small piece into his pocket.

"So…?" Kutner said, pulling his keys out of his pocket.

Taub rubbed his temples in frustration; he _really_ didn't want to have to say this…

"So…" He paused, "I guess I'm going to have to stay with you tonight."

"Okay, you need to ride with me?"

"Yeah," Taub sighed, his wife locked the car in the garage this morning, making him take a cab instead.

"Alright, then, lets go."

The car ride was quiet except for the sound of Kutner tapping on the steering wheel to some beat that only he could hear. Taub rolled his eyes and rested his head on the cool glass of the window, watching the passing cars.

"So what are you and your wife fighting about?" Kutner asked, breaking the silence.

"Does it matter?"

"I was just wondering, you seem pretty upset,"

Taub mumbled something under his breath and crossed his arms.

"You want to get a drink? There's a bar down the street from my apartment." Kutner suggested, slowing the car down in front of a brightly lit bar.

Taub opened his mouth to say no, but stopped himself, "Yeah, actually, I think I do."

"Cool," Kutner said, turning into the parking lot, appearing excited.

Taub rolled his eyes as he opened his door; Kutner was always excited.

Taub wanted to drink away the idea of being kicked out of his home and having to stay with Kutner. He wanted to be drunk enough to not remember why he was in this situation. And he nearly succeeded.

After his sixth drink, Taub was visibly intoxicated and was becoming disorderly. Kutner had never been one to drink and only ended up sipping half of a beer, watching Taub become rowdier and rowdier. At one thirty, Kutner decided that it was time to go, especially seeing as they both had work in the morning. He paid for their drinks and helped Taub out to his car.

"Hey," Taub said as Kutner started the car, "Why do you get to drive?"

"I don't drink much. Besides, I just live right over there."

"Oh, I don't drink much either, my wife hates it."

Upon saying the word wife, Taub's face twisted into a grimace as he remembered why he was there.

"She hates pretty much everything I do," He slurred, "I slip up one time and I get kicked out."

"Here we are," Kutner said, stopping the car, "Home sweet home."

They walked in silence to Kutner's apartment; Taub was apparently lost in thought thinking about his situation at home. As Kutner unlocked the door, Taub spoke again.

"She found out that I've been talking to some woman at the hospital," he said, glaring at the floor, "She accused me of cheating; she said if I'd done it once I'd do it again."

"Sorry, man." Kutner replied, letting Taub step past him through the door.

Taub grumbled something under his breath and turned to face Kutner, who was locking the door back, "If she wants to accuse me of cheating, I'll show her cheating."

Kutner faced him with a confused look on his face, "You're going to sleep with some random woman just to –"

Taub interrupted by pushing Kutner back against the door, then grabbed his face and kissed him. It was rough, sloppy and tasted strongly of alcohol; Taub was aggressive, pressing his lips against Kutner's almost hard enough to make it uncomfortable. Yet, Taub managed to get half of the buttons on Kutner's shirt pulled open before Kutner bothered to think about what they were doing.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kutner asked, shoving Taub away from him.

"If I'm going to get the punishment, I'm going to have the fun."

Kutner allowed himself to be pulled through his own apartment, and then lowered onto the couch. It wasn't until after Taub had climbed on top of him and began to trace his collarbone with his tongue that Kutner realized what exactly was happening.

"Stop! What are we even doing?!" Kutner barked, removing Taub's lips from his skin.

"Well,_ I_ was working my way towards third base."

"I'm being serious!" Kutner argued.

"So am I," Taub muttered, placing a kiss on his neck.

"Stop that! We can't have sex!"

"Why not?" Taub asked, pulling Kutner's shirt open.

Kutner grabbed his hand to stop him, "You're drunk _and _you're married. We're both going to regret it tomorrow and besides that, neither one of us is gay."

"We don't have to be gay to have sex."

"But we do have to be out of our fucking _minds_."

"Yeah, well, I'm willing to plead temporary insanity."

Kutner looked into the older man's eyes, trying to figure out if it was even worth it. He suddenly was very conscious of the weight pressing down on top of him and the fact that he was still clutching Taub's hand. He cautiously rubbed his thumb over the side of Taub's hand; in response, Taub squeezed his hand gently. Kutner shut his eyes tightly for a split second, just long enough to acknowledge that he was probably making a mistake, before finally giving in to temptation.

He sighed, then defeated, said, "Fine,"

The kiss that followed took his breath away. Actually, everything that Taub did took his breath away; the way that Taub ripped both of their clothes off had Kutner's breath hitching and arching up against him, anxious to press their bodies together again. And after that, as Taub was kissing and sucking and nipping at every inch of skin he could press his lips to, Kutner was panting and grinding their hips together, desperate to be as close as possible to the other man as possible.

Kutner had one last realization as he was flipped over onto his stomach: even though things were going to be awkward between them in the morning, Kutner knew that he wouldn't give this up for anything. And as Taub prepared to thrust into the younger man, he thought, _maybe being punished isn't so bad after all._

_

* * *

_Authors Note: Finally, I got this finished. Not too sure about some parts but hopefully you liked it. It's an unusual pairing, I've only seen one other Kutner/Taub fic and it was more friendship than anything. I'm glad I'm at least kind of original :] Also, I'm toying with the idea of writing a second half about the morning after, but I suppose I'll just wait and see if anyone's interested. Read and review?_  
_


	2. Hot N Cold

Taub was the first to wake from a telephone going off loudly, causing his head to pound. He grabbed it off of the bedside table and checked the caller ID.

"House," He grumbled, looking for the answer button.

The phone was snatched from his grip just as he was about to press the green button.

"Have you lost your mind?" Kutner asked, "What do you think House would say if _you_ answered _my _phone?"

Taub's eyes widened as he took in his surroundings. This was not his bedroom; the floors were not covered with a plush carpet, but instead with hardwood flooring. It was small and messy with clothes and shoes strewn all over, nothing like the large, organized room he was used to waking up in.

"Hello? Yeah, sorry, I guess my alarm didn't go off…" Kutner said, holding the phone to his ear, "No… I haven't seen Taub…"

Taub had wandered into the living room to find his clothes, but ducked his head back in at the sound of his name. He pulled the circuit board out of his pocket then pressed his palm to his face realizing that there was nothing else left of his phone.

"I'll try and call him… I'm on my way now," Kutner said, hanging up the phone.

"Great, we're two hours late," Taub mumbled.

"So what are we going to do?" Kutner asked, running a hand through his short hair.

"We," Taub said, watching Kutner rummage through the clothes on the floor, "Are going to go into work. I'll just tell House that I broke my phone and lost track of time."

"You don't think he'll ask any questions?"

"If he does, I'll lie,"

Kutner nodded and Taub went back into the living room to find his clothes. Kutner stayed in his bedroom to get dressed, picking a pair of jeans off of the floor and a shirt that was laid across his desk. He grabbed a black sneaker from under the edge of the bed, but couldn't find the match.

"Have you seen the other one of these?" Kutner asked, entering the living room and holding the shoe in one hand.

"Uh, yeah, right here," Taub said, plucking the other shoe from the coffee table.

"Thanks," Kutner said, slipping on his shoe before reaching for the other.

As he grabbed the black canvas, his fingers brushed Taub's causing them both to jerk their hands back. They looked away from each other nervously, Taub's face turning bright red and Kutner awkwardly fumbling to get his shoe on.

"I guess I'll just go wait in the car, then," Taub said, crossing the room to leave without looking at Kutner.

"Yeah, okay, I'll be down in a second."

The door closed and Kutner sighed, sinking down onto the couch. He was frustrated, knowing that the night before had been a mistake. He was even more frustrated with the fact that he knew, if given a chance to relive it, he wouldn't change a thing. He gave enough time for Taub to get down to the parking lot before grabbing his keys and following.

* * *

"Late!" House announced as Taub walked through the doors.

"Yeah, I know, I broke my phone last night and I slept late." Taub said, sitting down across from Thirteen, "Won't happen again."

"Where's Kutner?" House asked, looking out into the hallway.

"I don't know, I haven't seen him," Taub replied, skimming over the file.

The elevator doors opened and Kutner stepped out, looking nervous. When he spotted House waiting for him in the door and shooting curious glances between himself and Taub, he felt his face get hot.

"Morning," He mumbled, stepping past House.

"Morning," House answered, watching him take a seat.

Kutner noticed Taub looking at him with wide eyes before looking back down at the table, color rising in his cheeks. Thirteen and Foreman shared a similar look and looked away from each other nervously. House continued to eye the two suspiciously, paying close attention to the tension between the two. It did not escape his attention that Kutner chose to walk around the entire table to sit next to Thirteen rather than take the closer, empty seat next to Taub.

"You know, I saw you drive up," House said; Kutner and Taub shared an alarmed glance, "Funny thing is, you and Taub were riding together."

"Carpooling is better for the environment, so what?" Kutner said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

"I don't have a problem with you saving the planet; my problem is that the two of you are hiding something."

"What makes you think we're hiding something?" Kutner asked.

"First, the patient: She's got streptococcus pneumonia. Thirteen and Foreman, give her a cocktail of antibiotics to see what works."

"Why not us?" Kutner asked, looking at House nervously.

"You don't think they can handle it themselves?"

Thirteen sent them both a strange glance, while Foreman avoided their eyes as they walked out the door.

"So, Kutner, wild night last night?" House asked, twirling his cane as the door closed.

"I… Er, no?" Kutner stuttered, his face getting hot.

Taub massaged his temples, wishing some natural disaster or something or _anything_ would interrupt this conversation.

"Really? Because you didn't have that hickey on your neck when you left yesterday."

Kutner's eyes grew wide before he leaped up to look in the silver mirror hanging on the wall. With horror, he saw that House was right: a bright red hickey was set just beneath his jaw. He ran his fingers over the mark, cursing. He'd been in such a rush this morning to get to work and out of the awkwardness of the morning after, he hadn't even bothered to look in the mirror. He glared at Taub who could have warned him if he hadn't spent the entire ride to work avoiding his eyes.

"So, would you like to try again?" House asked an amused expression on his face.

"I… I picked up a girl at a bar last night. No big deal." Kutner stammered, nervously touching the mark on his neck.

"I'm going to ignore the fact that you lied about it the first time and jump straight to why Taub is the one who looks like he's got a hangover and not you."

"Well, the thing is…"

"House!" Cuddy burst through the doors, saving Taub and Kutner from coming up with an excuse, "Clinic, now."

"I've got a patient." House said, "And I have some employee problems to work out here."

"I have an employee problem too, mine don't want to work. Besides, I just saw Dr. Hadley and Dr. Foreman who said you were treating the patient. Now go do your job."

"Fine, just give me a minute," House grumbled.

"No, now. I have a doctor who has been waiting for his lunch break for half an hour. Get down there."

When House didn't move, she added, "_No_w!"

He scowled, but stood and limped to the door. Before he left he turned to Taub and Kutner, "I'm not finished with you two yet," then continued towards the elevators.

Cuddy sighed, "You two take your lunch or find something productive to do," and she left too.

They watched the pair leave before speaking again.

"Now what?" Kutner asked, anxiously rubbing the mark on his neck.

"We come up with a story that makes sense." Taub answered.

* * *

Author's Note: It's been nearly two months? I really thought it had only been a week or two... Anyway, I think I've decided that this is going to be a longer chaptered fic, so hopefully you'll stick around with me to see where everything goes. Also, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will leave me a nice review and/or add me to your favorites or alerts!


	3. Fever

"So, let's come up with a good story to keep House happy." Taub said, standing up to get himself a cup of coffee.

"How can I come up with a lie when I don't even know what really happened?" Kutner asked, rubbing his temples.

"Nothing happened."

"What do you mean nothing happened?" Kutner asked, cocking a brow at Taub.

"I mean that nothing happened."

Kutner looked at the other man who had now brought his coffee to the table with a dumbfounded look.

"You're kidding me. You mean you're just going to act like last night didn't happen?"

"There's no need to act. It was nothing."

Kutner's eyes narrowed; this was not fair. Taub was the one who had pinned him against his own door and had his way. Kutner was the one arguing against it, trying to stop whatever had happened from happening. And after convincing a confused Kutner to forget what his common sense was telling him – to _stop _– here he was, telling him that none of it had happened.

Kutner could hear his voice lowering to a growl, "If nothing happened then we don't need a story do we?"

"Why are you doing this?" Taub asked; he leaned across the table, coming much too close to Kutner for either of them to be comfortable, before continuing, "Yes, we had sex last night. And that was a mistake. It's not going to do either of us any good to dwell on it. Let's just move on and forget about it."

Kutner ground his teeth together before answering, "Fine, but you can come up with your own damn story."

He stood and slammed his chair back under the table, then left the room, tramping towards an unknown destination, _anywhere but here._

Taub sat, at a complete loss for words. This was ridiculous, why was Kutner acting like such a child? So they'd slept together, _so fucking what_? There was no reason to make a huge deal of the situation; nothing good could possibly come of it. Besides, the younger doctor couldn't possibly be feeling any worse about the situation than Taub. Waking up in that warm bed with Kutner so close and so warm was such a relief, he had grown accustomed to waking up on the very edge of his huge mattress, too far from his wife to feel any of her body heat.

And after the initial shock wore off, Taub had wanted nothing more than to get his hands back on that warm skin. He had avoided looking at Kutner that morning and jerked away from his touch, but not from what he hoped Kutner had assumed was the awkwardness of the morning after. It was mostly due to the fact that Taub wasn't sure if he could keep his hands to himself if he was tempted. This fact bothered Taub to no end.

He hoped that it was just because it had been a very long time since he had had sex. Things between himself and his wife had already been rocky for months; the nurse was simply the last straw. He hoped that he was only feeling this strong attraction to Kutner because he was the first person that he had really touched in far too long. That had to be it. It had to.

His thoughts were interrupted by his boss, who came limping back into the room less than half an hour after he'd left. Taub looked up at him, brow cocked.

"New patient, go find Oliver Twist and check out the home."

"Why do I have to go with Kutner?"

"Still in your lovers quarrel?" House quipped, looking amused.

"No, I just…"

"Good, here's the address."

Taub took the slip of paper without saying anything more and set off to find his colleague. House was doing this on purpose, exploiting the tension he'd noticed between the two. He checked the cafeteria first and sure enough, there was Kutner, sitting alone, munching moodily on a tray of French fries.

Kutner looked up to see Taub walking towards him and pushed the tray away, now understanding what he had meant about being too angry to eat. Taub leaned on the table and took a fry from the tray.

Kutner glared at him, "What do you want?"

Taub sighed, "House is sending us to a patient's home."

"Why us?"

"Because," Taub picked up another fry; Kutner snatched the tray back towards himself, "House knows there's something up between us and he wants to fuck with us."

"Take Foreman or Thirteen," Kutner mumbled, eating a fry despite the fact that they were now cold and he no longer wanted them.

Taub rolled his eyes, "Would you stop acting like an infant and get over it? If House sees that we don't want to be around each other he's going to do everything in his power to make sure we're stuck together every chance he's got until he gets a reaction. Now get your ass up and let's go."

Kutner clenched his jaw and pushed the tray towards Taub, shoving past him with unnecessary force and too much physical contact for Taub's comfort. Taub closed his eyes and allowed him to pass, not wanting to show any kind of reaction. It was going to be a long day…

* * *

Once they had managed to break into the home, Taub turned to Kutner, "So, I guess I'll take the…"

"Whatever," Kutner snapped and took off for one of the rooms.

Taub massaged his temples and walked into the kitchen, wishing that Kutner would stop being so aggravating about the whole situation. He checked the refrigerator and cabinets, checking the food and dishes. Nothing unusual. He walked through the living room and looked for anything abnormal; still nothing. He walked down the hallway toward the bathroom and ran head first into Kutner who was leaving the smaller bedroom.

The unexpected touch was enough to drive Taub over the edge; he reached a hand out to run down Kutner's side, pressing his fingertips into the soft skin underneath the thin t-shirt. Once he realized what he had done, he jerked his hand back as though burned, but the damage had been done. Kutner's eyes were full of fury.

"You lying son of a bitch!" Kutner growled, taking a step towards Taub, "You want this just as much as I do."

Taub felt the heat rising in his face as he stammered for an answer, "I… Well, er… I didn't mean to…"

Kutner narrowed his eyes at him, "Do you have any idea how I felt today? Because I thought that you'd used me. And the whole thing was bullshit! I should… I don't even know what I should do."

He pinched the bridge of his nose, turning his head away from Taub who muttered quietly, "I'm sorry."

Kutner jerked his head back at Taub, grabbed his face with both hands and kissed him as hard as he could.

This time, it was Kutner pulling a shocked and stammering Taub backwards through the bedroom. He pinned the older doctor against the wall, tugging his shirt loose. He ran one hand up Taub's side, causing him to mutter something against his mouth. Kutner only answered by taking Taub's ear between his teeth and growling, "My turn," before tossing him onto the bed. Taub put up no more resistance, helping Kutner get them both out of their clothes. It was Kutner standing over Taub, preparing to enter him this time, neither of them thinking about the questions they would have to answer when and if they made it back to the hospital.

* * *

A/N: Added the last paragraph to set it up for the next chapter. It was originally in the next chapter but seeing as it was only one paragraph I figured it would be better here. As for my long absence, you can blame my computer blowing up. Literally, there was smoke and sparks and I was computer-less for about two months. But chapter four is officially in the works and I hope fanfiction lets all of you that have this on alert that I added this so you know I'm not dead and this is not abandoned :X


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